Tosa Mitsusada, Quails and
Wheat, a hanging scroll
painting

JapanEdo period, AD
1802-6

Quails (Japanese:
uzura) as a painting
subject were a speciality of the Tosa school, and many such
examples by Tosa artists survive. The subject derived originally
from Chinese painting of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), but
here the artist has attempted to impart a freshness to the painting
by placing stalks of wheat in the background (in place of the usual
millet) and by giving one of the birds white
plumage.

The Tosa school
had long been associated with the imperial court, and its paintings
employed delicate brushwork and colouring, compared to the much
bolder and dazzling works of the Kanō school, which supplied works
to the military rulers. An interesting feature of the present work
is the two shades, light and dark, of
rokushō (verdigris) used
to model the bamboo leaves in the foreground and the wheat stalks
behind. Mitsusada (1738-1806) was a dedicated practitioner of the
Tosa traditions, and managed to effect a temporary Tosa
revival.

The signature
reads 'Edokoro-azukari jūyon'-i [no] jō
Tosa-no-kami Fujiwara Mitsusada' ('Lord of Tosa
Fujiwara Mitsusada, Head of the Painting Bureau, Upper Fourth
Rank). It is known that he achieved this rank in 1802, so the work
can be dated between then and his death only four years later. The
seal beneath reads 'Mitsusada no in' ('Seal
of Mitsusada').